Tampa, FL, February 7, 2020 – AAA Scholarship Foundation today announced it would implement
several changes that will enable continued participation by Fifth Third Bank in the Florida Tax
Credit Scholarship Program.

Following a series of in-depth discussions with bank representatives, AAA will adopt new guidelines
that will enhance the information provided to parents and help ensure full transparency as they make
these important educational decisions for their children. AAA also will meet annually with Fifth Third
to evaluate the program and review the impact that the bank’s investment is having on the lives of
scholarship recipients.

“We appreciate the partnership we have had with Fifth Third over the past few years and wanted to
explore ways we could continue to work together to support the educational aspirations of Florida’s
economically disadvantaged and displaced students,” said Kim Dyson, president and CEO of AAA
Scholarship Foundation. “We listened to their concerns and their strong interest in making sure that
parents have the opportunity and information they need to make informed choices about the
educational-settings that best fit their children’s learning needs. One way we can do that is by creating
a roadmap to help parents navigate the process of selecting and applying to schools.”

Dyson said this and other enhancements would start to be implemented immediately and would be
in effect for enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year, paving the way for Fifth Third’s continued
participation in the program.

“We look forward to once again partnering with Fifth Third through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship
Program to help low-income and displaced students gain access to educational options,” Dyson said.

Click here for a pdf of this statement.

According to the most recent study released by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), most LGBTQ secondary school students do not feel safe in Florida’s Public Schools. If you have not had a chance to read it, the full report can be found at this link: School Climate Snap-Shot for Florida Public Schools

That study illustrates why the Florida Tax Credit (FTC) Scholarship Program is so critical. Since it passed in 2002, it has been one of the only options a low-income family may have to provide their k-12^th grade child who identifies as LGBTQ with an educational setting that is safe and better fits them. In many cases, an FTC scholarship may be the only escape for a low-income LGBTQ child who feels unsafe in their residentially-assigned public school.

We have never spoken to a parent who decided to participate in the FTC Scholarship Program because their child was thriving at their assigned school. They choose this route because their child is suffering academically or experiencing some form of discrimination or bullying. The beauty of the FTC Scholarship program is that it genuinely empowers parents with limited means to remove their children from otherwise harmful environments and into supportive ones where they can thrive.

You can follow this link to our blog post about why We Trust Parents which seeks to remind everyone that this program is 100% voluntary. No one forces a parent to participate or to have their child remain in any school that ends up being a bad fit (unlike residentially-assigned public schools). Parents have to work hard to get an FTC scholarship for their children, and they don’t just turn off their brains once their children get an award. They know that the scholarships are theirs to control – not the schools. If their first choice of a school isn’t a good fit, they know they can take their child – and their scholarship – to a different one. This real market force helps weed-out “bad” schools because ultimately, no one will choose to use their FTC scholarships there.

Companies that choose to participate in the FTC Scholarship Program are funding a student’s scholarship and empowering a low-income parent. They are NOT funding schools. They do NOT approve or accept schools. The scholarship parents choose where to use the scholarships.

Not every school will be a good fit – for the parent, the student, or the school. We wish every first-choice school were a good one but that may not happen for some. Nearly 2,000 Florida schools participate in the FTC Scholarship Program. It may take some work to find the right one but FTC Scholarship parents are not afraid to work hard – they’ve already proven that.

What is not okay is to force a parent to keep their child trapped in an unsafe school because scholarship funding is lacking due to misinformation or bullying tactics. When a company chooses to no longer participate in the FTC Scholarship Program because they have been told repeatedly by the media or on social media or berated publicly by a state legislator that they are funding non-inclusive schools, then they have made a decision based on misinformation or bullying.

Contributions to Scholarship Funding Organizations (SFOs) do not fund schools; they fund scholarships. SFOs award scholarships to students, not to schools. Scholarship checks are made payable to the parents, not to schools. This loss of scholarship funding means a company will be harming the very students they may be trying to help by no longer participating in the FTC Scholarship Program. Those responsible for the misinformation and bullying will have successfully trapped students in unsafe schools.

The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program transforms the lives of low-income children by empowering parents to choose where their children can achieve their ultimate academic potential regardless of their sexual orientation, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. We trust Florida Tax Credit Scholarship parents to make the most informed decisions about their children’s education and you should, too.

Here are the three main reasons that AAA charges an application fee, where allowed:

First, processing scholarship applications is very time and labor-intensive due to the strict accountability demanded to properly administer these state-approved scholarships. AAA is a non-profit organization with a small staff and a limited budget. We rely on humans (rather than machines) to process applications. We pay a living wage plus benefits to our employees. The application fees we collect help offset the expenses incurred for processing tens of thousands of applications annually.

Second, we have learned from experience that charging a small, non-refundable, application fee discourages those people who ALREADY KNOW that they will not be awarded a scholarship from applying. How do they already know? Because we are completely transparent when it comes to the eligibility requirements. As noted above, our staff is small so our capacity to process applications timely is limited. Subsequently, spending our limited resources on applications that have zero chance of being approved is wasteful and slows down approvals for those who are actually eligible.

Third, because the application process is time-intensive, we have to encourage everyone who has applied with us to stick with it to the end. Studies have shown that when people have “skin-in-the-game” they show more perseverance toward reaching the goal. Our experience is that applicants are more likely to respond to additional requests for information and/or documentation when they have paid a fee for the chance to be part of that process.

What we hear time and again is that a small application fee for what is very likely to be thousands of dollars in annual k-12 scholarships is well worth the price!

There have been recent newspaper reports about a perceived lack of accountability by the private schools participating in certain Scholarship Programs. This has created a lot of discussion about additional regulations that may be needed for these schools. We would like to take this time to discuss our view of this issue.

Let us start by reminding everyone that most scholarship families have already experienced what it is like to have their children in a well-regulated public school – many of which were also accredited.

Neither the regulations nor the accreditation made their zoned school a good fit for their children so these families sought out a different option – a scholarship to assist them in affording an educational setting that was a better fit for their children.

That means that scholarship families have already:

1. Proactively chosen to remove their children from their zoned schools,
2. Successfully completed the application process for scholarships,
3. Enrolled their children in eligible private schools of their choosing, and
4. Understood that they have the option to exit those schools if they are not meeting their children’s learning needs and to take their children – and scholarship funding – with them to another school.

They are not doing these actions mindlessly. Please do not be deceived by the fallacy that you must “protect” scholarship families from their choices.

Whereas one of the stated purposes of creating the Scholarship Programs is to expand educational opportunities, it behooves the state regulators to resist the urge towards over-regulating participating schools. Studies have proven that over-regulating these schools has the opposite effect – it constricts quality educational opportunities and subsequently decreases program effectiveness.

Instead, we encourage the state regulators to show scholarship families respect. Assume that they are the experts of their own lives and provide support for them as they work towards the goals they have already set for themselves and their children.

Here are some ways that we have found to do that:

• We provide parents with data on schools so that they can make informed decisions on selecting the best educational settings for their children. We provide access to licensed academic performance data on public, charter and private schools including ratings and reviews by parents, teachers, and students.
• We inform parents that their children’s scholarships are portable. They have the power to decide whether the chosen schools are serving their children well. If not, they can take their scholarships to another eligible school. This is the mechanism that weeds-out low-quality schools.
• We empower scholarship parents to demand to be treated like private-pay parents by private schools. Although they may learn about the scholarship from a school, the application process is between AAA and the parents. For us, the schools have no role in the process until the parents pro-actively select them – after being awarded a scholarship. We believe this helps underscore to the parents that they are not beholden to schools because they understand that the scholarships are not coming from the schools. Instead, parents are going into these schools with “money-in-hand” when they have a AAA scholarship.
• We remind them of all of these facts repeatedly – during application meetings, on scholarship applications, flyers, handbooks, award letters, and school commitment forms. Many families who have not had prior experience with the private school world need to hear these things multiple times before the feeling of empowerment becomes internalized.

In Florida, we have administered both the Florida Tax Credit and Gardiner scholarships since 2014. Using our approach, more than 96 percent of FTC parents remain satisfied with the schools that they originally selected for their children. For those Gardiner students using their scholarship accounts for private school tuition that number is over 88 percent.

At AAA, we support the individual efforts of our scholarship families towards upward mobility. We do that by never assuming to know more about what their families need than they do. We encourage everyone to do the same.

Arizona Hearing for Bill #SB 1485 scheduled for TODAY, May 7th!!

The Arizona House is set to hear bill #SB1485 on Tuesday, May 7th. As a reminder, this bill will ELIMINATE 80 PERCENT of the annual increase in SCHOLARSHIP FUNDING needed to keep the program growing.

We ask that you please contact your REPRESENTATIVE and ask them to vote AGAINST SB 1485!

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO STOP THIS BAD BILL WHICH WILL ELIMINATE 80 PERCENT OF THE ANNUAL FUNDING INCREASE IN THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

It takes just 4 easy steps to tell your Arizona Legislator to vote AGAINST #SB1485

1. Find your Legislative District Number by clicking here and entering your address: https://azredistricting.org/districtlocator/
2. Click on the link below and scroll until you find your Legislative District Number: https://www.azleg.gov/memberroster/
3. Click on your House Representative’s name and then click on the email button.
4. Complete the form and ask them to vote AGAINST SB1485.

BILL #SB 1485 HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DESTROY THIS INCREDIBLE LIFE-SAVING PROGRAM AND WE MUST MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD TO CHANGE YOUR LEGISLATOR’S HEARTS AND MINDS. WE NEED YOUR HELP TODAY!

Thank you again and we can win this fight if we all stand up for our children!

2nd Nevada Committee Hearing for Bill #AB458 scheduled for Thursday, May 2nd at 1:30 p.m.

The Nevada Senate Revenue Committee is set to hear bill #AB458 on Thursday, May 2nd. As a reminder, this bill will REMOVE the 10% annual increase in scholarship funding needed to keep the program growing.

Thank you to everyone who came out to Las Vegas and Carson City to testify against the bill at the Assembly in early April. We ask that you please come out again this Thursday to make sure your voices are heard in the Senate this time!

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO STOP THIS BAD BILL WHICH ENDS ANY ANNUAL INCREASE IN THE OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1. Please come out to the meeting on Thursday at 1:30 PM and tell the committee members that you OPPOSE bill #AB458. If you feel comfortable taking 1 or 2 minutes to share with the committee why your child needs this scholarship you will be able to do that too. We will have people there to meet you and give you stickers to wear.

You can attend the meeting in Las Vegas or Carson City on Thursday, May 2nd at 1:30 p.m.:

Attend in Las Vegas: Grant Sawyer State Office Building Room 4412 555 E. Washington Ave.   Las Vegas, NV

Attend in Carson City: Legislative Building Room 2134 401 S. Carson St.   Carson City, NV

If you are attending please call or text us at 702-941-4448 so we can provide more information and connect you with an advocate at the meeting.

1. If you cannot attend in person, please email:
   1. Committee Chair Senate Marilyn Donderol Loop at Marilyn.DonderoLoop@sen.state.nv.us 
   2. Vice- Chair Julia Ratti at  Julia.Ratti@sen.state.nv.us  
   3. Senator David Parks  David.Parks@sen.state.nv.us
2. Let them know you OPPOSE Bill #AB 458 and state you are on the wait-list for a scholarship. In a few sentences state why your child needs this educational choice.
3. Post a comment on the bill at https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/80th2019/ Enter “AB458” for the bill number and check the button that you are AGAINST the bill. Then share a few sentences on why you want a scholarship. Legislators look at these posts!

BILL #AB458 HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DESTROY THIS INCREDIBLE LIFE-SAVING PROGRAM AND WE MUST MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD TO CHANGE THE COMMITTEE MEMBER’S HEARTS AND MINDS. WE NEED YOUR HELP TODAY!

Thank you again and we can win this fight if we all stand up for our children!

p.s. A big shout-out to everyone who came out on April 2 and April 4 to testify at the Assembly against AB458. We truly appreciate your efforts!

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear friend, colleague and tireless advocate for disadvantaged students, Cheryl Hillen.

Cheryl began her advocacy for quality k-12 educational options for all students back in the early 1990s. Even after she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, she never stopped fighting to end the vicious cycle of generational poverty.

As Director of Corporate Relations for AAA, Cheryl communicated the need for businesses to invest in the economically-disadvantaged communities they serve. Her work remains a critical factor in AAA’s continued success and growth.

Prior to her work with AAA, Cheryl founded Project Education and served as Director of Development at the Alliance and Advocates for School Choice (2004-2008); Vice President at Children First America (2000 – 2004); Director of Development at Citizens for a Sound Economy (1990 – 2000); and Vice President at D.C.-based government relations firm, Valis Associates (1986-1990). Prior to that, she worked on political campaigns and on Capitol Hill.

Cheryl was originally from West Virginia and attended the University of Kentucky where she majored in political science. She is survived by her children, Marga Franklin and William “Woody” Franklin, mother, Nancy Hillen, sisters, Cathy Hillen-Rulloda and Cindy Hillen and brother, Alex Hillen, along with a large, loving family of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins

We re-dedicate ourselves to continuing Cheryl’s legacy. Our loss is heaven’s gain. We will forever miss her.

Please read her full obituary here.

The Nevada Department of Education has released its annual student achievement data report for students in the Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship Program and the results are positive overall.

Although the number of students whose test scores could be tracked longitudinally over three years was limited because different schools may use different assessments, 68.4 percent of those that could be compared showed positive learning gains (defined as a maintained or raised score year over year). For those students whose test scores could be tracked over two years, the results were also positive overall (65.7 percent). Read the state’s full report here.

These results confirm what other studies have shown (here), the longer the time period that students participate in these scholarship programs, the more they benefit from them.

AAA Scholarship Foundation is proud to be an approved Nevada Scholarship Granting Organization. For more information about the Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship Program, please visit us at www.aaascholarships.org.

An update to the 2017 Urban Institute study of The Effects of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program on College Enrollment and Graduation by Matthew Chingos, Tomas Monarrez, Daniel Kuehn has been released and the results are conclusive: “…students who enroll in private school through the [Florida Tax Credit] program are more likely to go to and graduate from college than their public school peers.”

The update also confirmed their earlier findings that the longer a student participates in the program, the higher the likelihood that they will attend a four-year college and earn a bachelors degree when compared to their public school counterparts. The studies are unique in that the public school comparison samples were made up of students who attended the same public schools as the scholarship students (before their participation) – making the results robust.

AAA Scholarship Foundation is proud to be one of only two administrators of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. To find out more about AAA or any of the six scholarship programs we administer, visit us at www.aaascholarships.org.